Overview
Row
Starting with the installation of 11 bicycle (and pedestrian) NMF counters in a number of counties predominantly in west, central Scotland, from June 2017 and through to Aug 2020, when the 63rd counter was installed in Fort William in the Highlands, and a further three in Edinburgh in Jun and Jul 2021. The snapshots now also include data from more dense networks of council-managed counters and some points along the John Muir Way.
Bicycle & Pedestrian Counters
Cyclists – Total Count by Month & Year, All Counters
Pedestrians – Total Count by Month & Year, NMF Counters
Counter Data Summaries
NMF Counters
| traffic mode | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| National Monitoring Framework (CS) | bicycle | 121,410 | 334,577 | 1,079,064 | 2,061,402 | 1,382,533 | 4,978,986 |
| National Monitoring Framework (CS) | pedestrian | 321,198 | 910,552 | 3,711,360 | 7,784,947 | 8,114,645 | 20,842,702 |
| traffic mode | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| National Monitoring Framework (CS) | bicycle | 48 | 41 | 60 | 96 | 92 |
| National Monitoring Framework (CS) | pedestrian | 221 | 183 | 293 | 506 | 764 |
| traffic mode | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| National Monitoring Framework (CS) | bicycle | 26 | 38 | 123 | 235 | 237 |
| National Monitoring Framework (CS) | pedestrian | 68 | 104 | 424 | 886 | 1391 |
| traffic mode | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| National Monitoring Framework (CS) | bicycle | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.6 | 1 | 1 |
| National Monitoring Framework (CS) | pedestrian | 2.3 | 1.9 | 3 | 5.3 | 8 |
Focusing on the NMF counters, at end Aug 2021 nearly 5m bikes and just under 21m pedestrians had been recorded going past all counters.
Average count per day dropped in 2018 for both types of counters before starting to rise again. Looking at counts overall, cycling peaked in May 2020, two months after the first COVID-19 lockdown was imposed, then continued to drop after plateauing over the summer. Despite further restrictions in 2021 cycling dropped overall. Walking, overall, however continued to rise in 2021. But even this started to decrease in April, and by June had dropped below the same month in 2020. However, both cycling and walking started to rise again in Jul 2021, both over the 2020 figures, but then fell again in Aug.
The data also includes [council-managed counters](council_counter_locations). Howeveer, the much larger number of counters and denser network in the two largest cities, Edinburgh and Glasgow skew the data, especially when looking at totals. We therefore compare data across location and time using predominantly average counts.
Council Counters & the John Muir Way
| traffic mode | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| City of Edinburgh Council | bicycle | 11,686,881 | 12,081,550 | 12,487,914 | 6,442,606 | 42,698,951 |
| East Dunbartonshire Council | bicycle | 46,603 | 90,008 | 236,291 | 93,527 | 466,429 |
| Glasgow City Council | bicycle | 3,032,075 | 3,823,953 | 2,448,636 | 1,880,541 | 11,185,205 |
| John Muir Way | bicycle |
|
|
33,383 | 75,371 | 108,754 |
| Comhairle nan Eilean Siar | bicycle |
|
|
|
29,608 | 29,608 |
| traffic mode | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| City of Edinburgh Council | bicycle | 967 | 864 | 706 | 826 |
| East Dunbartonshire Council | bicycle | 60 | 25 | 65 | 43 |
| Glasgow City Council | bicycle | 306 | 261 | 156 | 141 |
| John Muir Way | bicycle |
|
|
48 | 62 |
| Comhairle nan Eilean Siar | bicycle |
|
|
|
20 |
| traffic mode | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| City of Edinburgh Council | bicycle | 1334 | 1379 | 1422 | 1534 |
| East Dunbartonshire Council | bicycle | 7 | 10 | 27 | 18 |
| Glasgow City Council | bicycle | 346 | 454 | 279 | 326 |
| John Muir Way | bicycle |
|
|
10 | 13 |
| Comhairle nan Eilean Siar | bicycle |
|
|
|
6 |
| traffic mode | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| City of Edinburgh Council | bicycle | 40.3 | 36 | 29.4 | 34.4 |
| East Dunbartonshire Council | bicycle | 2.5 | 1 | 2.7 | 1.8 |
| Glasgow City Council | bicycle | 12.8 | 10.9 | 6.5 | 5.6 |
| John Muir Way | bicycle |
|
|
2 | 2.6 |
| Comhairle nan Eilean Siar | bicycle |
|
|
|
0.5 |
Cycling through the Week
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Cycling – Changes through the Week
Change over Time – Cycling through the Week
Cycling through the Year
Comparing total counts for each data provider and location against averages per hour through the day… this gets more interesting looking at the data month on month, as we can see how cycling changes through the full period for which counters were installed and working.